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Harrison: So moving on, moving on from one Oscar film to another Oscar film I did see the Revenant (Ben: The Revenant!) is the film we were talking about yes, we saw The Revenant, all three of us this time. Shall I do the usual plot synopsis? I mean it’s short innit?

Ben: Yes, he get’s mauled… by a bear…

Harrison: It’s set in the 1800s and Leonardo DiCaprio is a real-life frontiersman called Hugh Glass who helps them, he’s like the tracker whilst they’re collecting pelts and he gets mauled by a bear and is left for dead by Tom Hardy who also kills his son and then miraculously he survives the massive mare bawling… Bawling? Mare bawling?

Ben: Bear mauling

Harrison: Bear mauling! Maul Bearing! He survives the attack and then he drags himself across the wilderness in search of Tom Hardy for revenge. That’s what it’s about.

Ben: Fun and laughter pursues

Harrison: I thought it was, I laughed once.

James: It’s a good —

Ben: There was a happy moment.

Harrison: Yeah

Ben: …Moment…

Harrison: Maybe two?

Ben: It’s just it’s an intense film isn’t it? It kind of rides on the intensity really really well.

Harrison: I would too, I’d go a nine because…I’m gonna do a Jack and rather than justify why it’s nine points good i’m gonna justify why it’s not to a ten and go “this is what’s wrong!” The dream sequence bits–

Ben: Yeah, they didn’t work

Harrison: Some of them did? But… too many of them and a couple of themare cartoonishly pretentious

Ben: Yeah they’re very pretentious

Harrison: Also there are genuine audio issues.

Ben: Especially the beginning

Harrison: Not just in terms of like I can’t sometimes, I couldn’t hear what people are saying, like–

Ben: Tom Hardy especially.

Harrison: but that’s more to do with his diction and I can actually understand Tom Hardy, I’m talking more about things like there are scenes where they’re walking through the forest and you can’t hear people because the sound of rain like totally covers or muffles their speech and then there are issues where like people’s voices don’t sync to their mouths.

Ben: I don’t notice that

Harrison: The Indians. They genuinely don’t. Really. It’s really bad, especially because they have close-ups on them and you can just see that what they’re saying does not at all match up with how their mouths are moving and it is really noticeable.

Ben: I’m glad I didn’t notice that.

Harrison: It is so noticeable when you… you know notice it

James: I did notice it.

Harrison: Thank you. But, the other nine points are very good, it looks beautiful. I think it’s a really good story.

James: Leo’s brilliant

Harrison: Yeah all the acting’s brilliant I think Tom Hardy’s really good. Yeah, I know he’s doing one of his silly voices–

Ben: Will Poulter’s great as well.

James: Yeah, he’s alright and I really don’t like Will Poulter so for me to say he’s good that’s a statement.

Ben: What have you got against Will Poulter?

James: Ah, just his face.

Harrison: In a similar fashion I consider, is it Domhall?

James: Domhnall Gleeson

Harrison: I consider him my Charlie Hunnam, and I quite liked him in this.

Ben: What! Why?

James: Yeah. He…

Ben: He’s adorable yeah!

James: I really like him, but he is particularly good in this.

Harrison: Yeah I liked him in this it–

Ben: When you think about it Domhnall Gleason’s been in so much like he was, not only was he in Star Wars as well and he was in this.

Harrison: He was one of my problems with Star Wars.

Ben: He was in Brooklyn and Ex Machina. When you look at the Oscar movies he’s in a lot of them

Harrison: Sam Worthington was in a lot of big films.

Ben: When was the last big film Sam Wellington was in?

Harrison: He was in something last year, I dunno…

Ben: He was in Avatar, but since Avatar…

Harrison: You don’t know that Domhnall Gleeson is going be in big films forever just he’s been in shit

Ben: No, but he’s been in more shit than Sam Worthington ever was… Already

Harrison: Has he?

Ben: Yeah, San Worthington’s like dropped off the map completely

Harrison: Yeah, but what my point was–

James: He was in all those films like Clash of the Titans and obviously he was in Terminator

Ben: and Wrath of the Titans…

Harrison: and Avatar

Ben: Avatar was like seven years nobody–

James: Yes, but he’s gonna be in the new Avatars because you know how they’re making a million of them.

Harrison: My. Point. Was. That you don’t know that Domhnall Gleeson might do not drop off

the map.

Ben: That’s true.

Harrison: ANYWAY! I thought he was good and I thought Tom Hardy was good despite the fact he’s doing one of his funny voices. I like his funny voices he sounded like a mix between Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs and one of the police people from Fargo.

Ben: It just sounded like he was constantly eating all the time because he was just like “mggmhgmg”

Harrison: The bear attack is really cool.

James: Yeah that was really well done.

Ben: I loved- I looked up how they did it because it looks incredible considering it’s like pretty obvious it must be CGI because they’re not gonna unleash a real bear.

Harrison: [sniggers]

James: Oh really?

Ben: It was definitely not a man in a suit, but I looked up how they did it and there was a guy like in a blue screen suit just like acting out bear movements.

Harrison: Yeah, the cinematography is really good I mean…

Ben: That’s like the selling point.

Harrison: I know what [James] is going to say; it deserves the Oscar.

Ben: Sorry, it does.

James: Now I argue differently and my argument is that the cinematography is very noticeable in The Revenant.

Ben: I don’t think it’s always noticeable.

James: I personally think it’s very notable and I think this at times where it’s there for the sake of it and also the setting it lends itself to good cinematography. The reason why I want Roger Deakins to win the cinematography Oscar, which is something I’m quite passionate about, isn’t just because how he hasn’t got one is the biggest liberty of the century [Harrison sniggers again] but because in Sicario he’s filming cartel land and he’s making it look beautiful.

Harrison: But, but you just said that it is noticeable. If it looks beautiful then isn’t it noticable?

James: No but it fits. It supplements the plot, it supplements the plot whereas I don’t see — don’t get me wrong I think the cinematography in The Revenant is amazing, don’t get me wrong.

Ben: I think there are points that like right at the very beginning my favorite part of the whole film is literally in the opening 10 minutes when there’s the opening battle sequence where everything is just going on at once and the camera is shifting around – and that is noticeable.

Harrison: That’s not really one shot though is it?

Ben: No it’s not, but that’s very noticeable cinematography and that’s noticeable for a reason.

Harrison: It’s cool though.

James: That is cool.

Ben: Yeah it’s mental and it’s supposed to be like the madness.

Harrison: The people who win the Best Actor Oscars are noticeable.

Ben: Exactly

Harrison: Like, the best director Oscar doesn’t just go to someone who’s just directed a film should it. I mean it did with Tom Hooper, but okay, but my point is is that noticeable as yeah–

James: I just think that the main thing is that filming a film like that in that environment it was always gonna look nice.

Harrison: That’s true

James: …But he does make it look particularly nice, so I won’t be disgusted if he wins at the Oscar I don’t think that I will be upset.

Ben: I think that tunes in with my overall, like one major problem with The Revenant though, the reason I’m not as kind of enthusiastic about it as I know some other people are and I am about some other films, is that I had such high expectations going in that it lived up to my expectations, but it never exceeded them at any point.

James: Yeah I get that.

Ben: So I was kind of like “that was exactly as I expected it to be.”

James: Yeah that that was as good as it should’ve been.

Ben: It’s difficult to kind of jump up and around and be like “Yeah! that was incredible!” I mean that’s kind of harsh because it is such a well-made film but…

Harrison: I like the violence too…

Ben: Yeah the violence, it feels very real.

Harrison: I don’t often wince at things but there was like a couple of moments where I went “Oh!”

James: Anyway, ratings? I’ve already sort of giving mine away I said nine out of ten.

Ben: I’d go nine as well.

Harrison: Yeah

James: There we go, we’re all in agreement. That is a very rare thing.